BILL NUMBER: SB 2199	CHAPTERED  09/30/00

	CHAPTER   934
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE   SEPTEMBER 30, 2000
	APPROVED BY GOVERNOR   SEPTEMBER 29, 2000
	PASSED THE SENATE   AUGUST 31, 2000
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY   AUGUST 29, 2000
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   AUGUST 28, 2000
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   AUGUST 7, 2000
	AMENDED IN SENATE   MAY 16, 2000
	AMENDED IN SENATE   MAY 2, 2000

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Hayden
   (Coauthor:  Assembly Member Aroner)

                        MARCH 16, 2000

   An act to add Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 13810) to
Division 3 of the Insurance Code, relating to insurance.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 2199, Hayden.  Slavery era insurance policies.
   Existing law requires an insurer doing business in this state that
sold certain policies of insurance directly or through a related
company to persons in Europe between 1920 and 1945 to provide certain
information to the Insurance Commissioner for entry into the
Holocaust Era Insurance Registry, as specified.
   This bill would require the commissioner to request and obtain
information from insurers doing business in this state regarding any
records of slaveholder insurance policies issued by any predecessor
corporation during the slavery era, which policies provided coverage
to slaveholders for damage to or death of their slaves.  This bill
would require insurers to research and report on these policies, and
would require the commissioner to make this information available to
the public and the Legislature.  This bill would state that
descendants of slaves are entitled to full disclosure.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


  SECTION 1.  The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
   (a) Insurance policies from the slavery era have been discovered
in the archives of several insurance companies, documenting insurance
coverage for slaveholders for damage to or death of their slaves,
issued by a predecessor insurance firm.  These documents provide the
first evidence of ill-gotten profits from slavery, which profits in
part capitalized insurers whose successors remain in existence today.

   (b) Legislation has been introduced in Congress for the past 10
years demanding an inquiry into slavery and its continuing legacies.

   (c) The Insurance Commissioner and the Department of Insurance are
entitled to seek information from the files of insurers licensed and
doing business in this state, including licensed California
subsidiaries of international insurance corporations, regarding
insurance policies issued to slaveholders by predecessor
corporations.  The people of California are entitled to significant
historical information of this nature.
  SEC. 2.  Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 13810) is added to
Division 3 of the Insurance Code, to read:

      CHAPTER 5.  SLAVERY ERA INSURANCE POLICIES

   13810.  The commissioner shall request and obtain information from
insurers licensed and doing business in this state regarding any
records of slaveholder insurance policies issued by any predecessor
corporation during the slavery era.
   13811.  The commissioner shall obtain the names of any
slaveholders or slaves described in those insurance records, and
shall make the information available to the public and the
Legislature.
   13812.  Each insurer licensed and doing business in this state
shall research and report to the commissioner with respect to any
records within the insurer's possession or knowledge relating to
insurance policies issued to slaveholders that provided coverage for
damage to or death of their slaves.
   13813.  Descendants of slaves, whose ancestors were defined as
private property, dehumanized, divided from their families, forced to
perform labor without appropriate compensation or benefits, and
whose ancestors' owners were compensated for damages by insurers, are
entitled to full disclosure.
